Home > Torres Strait

The strait links the Coral Sea to the east with the Arafura Sea in the west. It is very shallow, and the maze of reefs and islands make it difficult to navigate. In the strait lie the Torres Strait Islands, inhabited by the Torres Strait Islanders, a Melanesian people related to the Papuans. Several languages are spoken on the Torres Strait Islands, one of them being Torres Strait Creole.

The strait was first navigated by Luis Vaez de Torres, a Portuguese seaman who was second-in-command on the expedition of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros who sailed from Peru to the South Pacific in 1605Events April 13 Tsar Boris Godunow dies Feodor II accedes to the throne May 16 Paul V becomes Pope June 1 Russian troops in Moscow imprison Feodor II and his mother. They are later executed June 20 Pretender Dmitri and his supporters march to Moscow July. After Quiros's ship returned to MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co, Torres resumed the intended voyage to ManilaFor other meanings of the word, see Manila (disambiguation). Manila Maynila in Filipino) is the capital city of the Philippines. The city stands on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. Despite pockets of grinding poverty, it is one of t via the Moluccas. He sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, and probably saw the northernmost extremity of Australia.

In 1769Events Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen exhibits the " Mechanical Turk", a chess-playing machine May 14 Charles III of Spain sends Spanish missionaries, who found California missions in San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Monterey and begin the settlem the ScottishScottish can refer to: adjective for Scotland see: Scotch the Scottish people. See also: List of famous Scottish people Scottish English. geographerA geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of the physical environment and human habitat. Historically known as someone who makes maps, mapmaking is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography. The geogra Alexander Dalrymple found Torres's report of this voyage in ManilaFor other meanings of the word, see Manila (disambiguation). Manila Maynila in Filipino) is the capital city of the Philippines. The city stands on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. Despite pockets of grinding poverty, it is one of t, and it was he who named the strait after Torres.

In 1770Events March 5 Boston Massacre: 5 Americans killed by British troops in an event that would help start the American Revolutionary War 5 years later. May 14 Marie Antoinette arrives to French Court. May 16 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year old L when James Cook annexed the whole of eastern Australia to the British Crown, the Torres Strait Islands were annexed along with them, and indeed Cook sailed through the strait after sailing up the Australian coast. They thus later became part of the British colony of Queensland, although some of them lie just off the coast of New Guinea. This became an issue when Papua New Guinea was moving towards independence from Australia in 1975. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, but the Papua New Guinea government objected to complete Australian control over the waters of the strait.

Eventually an agreement was struck whereby the islands and their inhabitants remain Australian, but the maritime frontier between Australia and Papua New Guinea runs through the centre of the strait. In practice the two countries co-operate closely in the management of the strait's resources.

In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Torres Strait Islanders from Mer (Murray Island) started legal proceedings to establish their traditional land ownership. Because Mabo was the first-named plaintiff, it became known as the Mabo Case. In 1992, after ten years of hearings before the Queensland Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia, the latter court found that Mer people had owned their land prior to annexation by Queensland.

This ruling overturned the century-old legal doctrine of terra nullius ("no-one's land"), which held that native title over Crown land in Australia had been extinguished at the time of annexation. The ruling was thus of far-reaching significance for the land claims of both Torres Strait Islanders and Australian Aborigines.